Ghost Mastermind Feared Backlash Over Broad Appeal

William Lee | 10-30-2019

Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge explained why he feels that the band has enjoyed a broad appeal to a diverse mixture of fans and revealed that in the early days that he was worried that appeal would cause problems.

Forge made the comments during an appearance on the here podcast. He told host Mark Strigl, "I think that there is a little bit for anyone in there. I think that just because the music and also the style and presentation is embracive of essentially 50 years - possibly even more - of rock n' roll, I think that as long as it reaches out to those people, it has the tendency to strike a chord within all these different clienteles. Which is fantastic, I think. I love that.

"In the beginning of our tours in 2011 and '12, when we started touring America and started headlining a lot, I was actually a little bit worried because of the mixture of people, because - and this was naively thought of from my end, I guess - I thought, when I saw the diversity in the crowd, I was happy, but I was afraid that one group of people might repel the other.

"The hardcore metal, vest-wearing, kick-ass metal fans, that they would be deterred by the fact that, 'Sh*t, the hipsters are here'... We were always adamant - me and my agent - that we were going to play all-ages shows, which we've been trying to do to the best of our ability.

"As soon as kids started appearing at the shows, we've always been very informative to the crowd, like, 'You can't f***in' slam around a whole lot. You can't stage-dive.' You have to be mindful - there are people out there who are very frail. You're not at a Cro-Mags show.

That was also a public relations message that I was a little bit worried about. I'm sure there were probably a few metalheads out there that felt like, 'Oh, man, Ghost ain't f***in' metal anymore because I can't f***in' dive foot-first into the crowd.' Sure, okay, fine - if that doesn't make us metal, I'm all fine with that. You can't f***ing head-butt a 10-year-old. That's not cool. If that is not metal, then okay - f*** you.

"But a lot of these people come back, and they seem to be enjoying it together, which is very heartwarming to see, because I really, really want Ghost to be a very embracive, non-segregating band that essentially welcomes everyone who are open to the idea of openness. That's the point, we want you to be happy together."